Women encouraged to go on dating and sex strikes as a protest against threat to Roe v. Wade

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s announcement that he’ll retire from the Supreme Court this summer has sparked new concerns that a second Trump appointee on the bench could help overturn rulings that conflict with conservative views — including Roe v. Wade.

Demonstrators supporting abortion rights counterprotested during the March for Life rally in 2017. (Photo: Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Named after Aristophanes’s ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata, in which women refuse to sleep with their warring husbands until they agree to a truce, the movement is the brainchild of author and political journalist Jennifer Wright.

In a tweet posted on Monday, Wright suggested that single women stop dating and having sex with men expressing anti-abortion views. Women could indicate their stance by adding the female judge emoji to their dating profiles.

We're very likely to lose Roe Vs. Wade. Some men may think that doesn't concern them. Make it.

If you're single and dating, add a 👩‍⚖️ emoji to your dating profiles to show people you won't date/sleep with anyone who doesn't support a woman's right to choose.#Lysistrata2018

As longtime HD Tweeps know, HD is a Republican-free zone when it comes to dating already. But I am all in for this plan. I am SO tired of men making decisions for women. I am personally tired of people telling me to “calm down” when it comes to Roe v Wade. #Lysistrata2018https://t.co/TPztzs4zcY

Look, there are women for whom sex with a man resulting in children could mean death or life ruining children consequences so I am all for #Lysistrata2018, we ladies aren’t having sex with men anymore until you give us our abortion & birth control rights back.

If these men start claiming that they’re now “involuntary celibates” in response to #Lysistrata2018 … May I remind them that being a shitty person who doesn’t believe in reproductive rights is A CHOICE and therefore VOLUNTARY

Wright told Yahoo Lifestyle that she’s heard from both women and men who have added the symbol.

“People on the right have been screaming for years that if women don’t want to get pregnant they should just keep their legs closed,” she said. “If men truly feel that way, it seems pretty sensible to take their advice and close our legs to them.”

Will Tinder and Bumble be flooded with the female judge emoji — and could it make a difference in protecting Roe v. Wade? It’s too soon to tell — and Trump won’t be naming his SCOTUS nominee until July 9 — but as Wright has noted, sex strikes aren’t merely a plot device used by ancient Greek playwrights. Quartz has a rundown of the most successful strikes in history, including the 2003 sex ban that helped end the Liberian civil war.